Our flight to DC was a long one. The flight out of Stuttgart was delayed by an hour, and we had a short layover in Amsterdam, so I was nervous. The last thing I wanted was for us to be stuck over night in Schipol Airport. We made up time in the air when we finally took off and ran across the airport to get to our gate. We got through the passport section and the flight crew was literally waiting on us before they closed the door to the plane. Our scheduled lift off time was 2:10pm, and we walked on the plane at 2:05pm. They told us as we boarded that the odds of our bags making it on the plane were slim, but we still held out hope. The flight time should have been 8 hours, but due to strong head winds over the Atlantic, and being redirected around DC because the air space was full, it added an extra hour to the trip. We finally landed 9 hours after takeoff. Our baggage did not make it, but we were told it would be there the following evening.
That night was just a relaxed night. We stopped at Walmart on the way home to get a few essentials that we would need to hold us over until our luggage arrived, then came home to American beer and home cooked tacos...a great way to end a long day of travelling.
The next day we hit the ground running. We had lunch at the Buffalo Wing Factory (I've missed good wings in Germany), went to the Army/Navy club to pick up some golf clubs for Dad, then went down to DC to visit our friend Abby and her new born son Phillip. Her husband, Paul, was at work, but at least we got to play with Phillip and see Abby. Phillip has the biggest eyes I've ever seen on an infant, but he was in a good mood and was all smiles and playing. I think Abby enjoyed having adult conversation for a few hours too.
After spending some time there we headed back home for dinner with my parents and my brother. That evening we got a call from the airport at 7pm saying our luggage had arrived and would be there within 2-3 hours. We were still jet lagged, but I wanted to stay up to make sure all the bags arrived. Eventually at midnight the bags showed up. All our luggage made it safe & sound, including some specialty Belgian beer we'd brought back. This particular kind of beer can only be sold at the brewery that makes it, but we were able to find some at a hole in the wall store in Amsterdam. We bought some for ourselves, as well as for several friends back home who had requested it. They weren't cheap, costing approx. $20 per 11 oz bottle. The bottles had to survive a flight from Amsterdam to Stuttgart, then a month later from Stuttgart back to Amsterdam, then on to DC. Thanks to the creative packaging material used to get it to Stuttgart (diapers pictured below), and lots of bubble wrap for the flight to DC, every bottle made it safely.
The next day we started on our trip to Snowshoe, WV. We made great time getting there, arriving in a little over 4 hours. The problem then became getting to the house. For some reason the town of Snowshoe is determined to make finding anything there as difficult as possible. No roads have street names, just wooden signs to indicate the name of the area you are in. That means you can put your GPS away...it's useless. The friend of ours who planned the trip had provided a map, but unfortunately marked landmarks incorrectly so it was impossible to use it to find the house. Cell phone coverage is also practically non-existant there, so we ended up driving around for close to 3 hours before we finally found a general store where the guy behind the counter let us use his phone. We had a phone number for the house phone, and called that. Eventually it all worked out, and we made it to the house.
It was great seeing everyone. It's been a year since we last did, but as soon as we arrived it felt like no time had passed. It was technically a ski trip weekend, and about half the people at the house went skiing/snowboarding over the weekend, but we were just there to relax and spend time with everyone. There was snow on the ground the day we arrived, but the next day it got up to 50 degrees and almost all of the snow melted. Below is a picture I took from our bedroom window before it started to melt.
We got there on Friday, and left Sunday morning. In that time it was great catching up with everybody, as well as meeting some new people.
Sunday morning we left a little early because we had someone to meet in the afternoon. The trip back went slower because we went a different route that took us up & down mountains. We eventually made it back in to NoVA and stopped at some old friends house. I've known Jeffrey since 6th grade, and his wife Erin since 11th grade. We've been friends for a long time, and after years of trying, they finally had a baby boy, Jordan, last October. While it didn't work out this way, for awhile the doctor's projected due date for them was October 17th, our anniversary. Jordan was Mr. Playful. He kept trying to jump around in Shanna's arms, and made a million expressions with his face the entire time we were there. It was also good to talk with Jeffrey & Erin again. Eventually it was nap time for Jordan, and we could tell it was also nap time for Jeffrey & Erin. We said our goodbyes, then headed home.
A year or two ago a friend of Shanna's & mine, Patrick, was here by himself for Thanksgiving, so when my parents found out, they invited him over with us. They liked him, and when it came up that he had recently gotten married, they wanted to have him & his wife, Janelle, over for dinner. So Sunday night they both came over. If you recall back to a previous blog post, Patrick was the friend I met up with in Luxembourg while he was there for work. He might be in Lithuania for work in a few months, so if that happens, I'm definitely meeting him up out there.
Monday we got started early by meeting a good friend and former co-worker, Justin, at the Dogfish Head Alehouse. Dogfish Head beer is one of my favorites, and their tavern in Chantilly has an amazing sandwich called The Steak Bomb. So we met up with him there for lunch. We talked about work, where I got caught up on all the changes of the past year, as well as what he's been up to. His birthday is in May, so since I knew I wouldn't be here for it, I brought him back some German beer. There was a three pack I picked up with some of the strongest German beers available. Two were %13, and one was %16. Next up Shanna wanted to visit Target. Some of the little things in life that we used to take for granted (Target, Walmart, etc...) are places we can't wait to visit now.
Seafood is a hard thing to find in Stuttgart. The Germans aren't real big on putting preservatives in food and transporting them around the country, so unless you live up north around Hamburg, Bremen, etc... where it borders water, it's hard to find seafood. One of Shanna's favorite places to get crabcakes is Chadwick's in Old Town Alexandria. I like the place because they have a good beer selection. Monday night we met up with a group of friends I know through Shanna there for dinner & drinks. Some people from the ski trip were there, as well as some people who hadn't been able to make the ski trip. Abby even made it out with her husband, Paul. I was glad they did since we hadn't been able to see Paul a few days prior when we went to their house.
Tuesday was our last full day in Northern VA. The day started with Shanna taking a trip down to Potomac Mills to the oulets to go shopping. I stayed home and a friend I've known since high school, Tim, picked me up to head out to lunch. Before we moved I'd been keeping up on a new brew pub that was scheduled to open in the Falls Church area. We left before it opened, but now it's been open & running for a bit. Tim liked both the beer & food, so I was excited about trying it. When we got there we were the only ones there. I started off with a Scotch Ale, and it was DELICIOUS. They had a great deal on beer samplers, where you got four 4 oz glasses of beers of your choice for $6. One thing I miss living in Germany is good American micro brew, and this place sure hit the spot. The food was delicious too. I had a pizza for lunch that was topped with bacon, pepperoni, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic slices, and hot sauce. In addition to the good food & beer, it was also good catching up with Tim over the beer. After lunch Tim dropped me back off at home & I took a nap.
That evening we drove out to Tysons to meet up our friends Pat, Luzette, their daughter Marella, and that group of friends. All told there was about 15 people there. Ever since we moved to Germany I've been looking for some utensils to get for Marella. When my brother & I were little kids we had neighbors from Germany who got us these things that we called "Pushers". They look like little "garden hoes" but are used by young kids before they can use a knife to push food on to a fork or spoon. It took us forever, but we eventually found a set a few weeks before our trip home. Marella took to the pusher immediately!
It was great seeing everyone again, including our friends Ryan & Christina who I mentioned in a previous post because they visited us in Stuttgart while they were in Germany on vacation back in December.
Like all vacations, Tuesday night came to a close and the vacation in Northern VA came to a close entirely too fast. The next day we went out to lunch with my Mom and then drove to the airport. We had some delays flying to Texas, but by the time we landed we were only a few minutes late, so it ended up being no big deal.
We are still in Texas enjoying 80 degree weather and seeing family down here. I'll post all about this part of the trip next week when we are back in Germany.
The pictures above will take you to a larger hi-res version if you click on them, and the two places where I mentioned "previous blog posts" are clickable links to those blog posts in case you want a refresher.
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